Friends
Stocks wiped out all of yesterday’s losses and then some today as traders responded to Mr. Putin’s press conference with a sigh of relief. The Russian leader took a less hawkish stance towards Ukraine (although his comments were somewhat rambling and confusing), and the reversal of gloom that hung over the market caught the bears flat footed. Stocks rose right from the start of trading and the result was the best rally of the year.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 227 points to finish the day at 16,395. The S&P 500 was up 28 to close at 1873. Gold was down $15 to trade at $1334 per ounce, while oil was down $1.61 to trade at $103.31 per barrel WTI.
It is way too early to say that we have the disruption of the Russia/Ukraine affair behind us, but perhaps over the next couple of days traders will once again focus on domestic economic data. Remember, we get the jobs report on Friday and that will be the focus unless global political tensions heighten. Let’s see if the bulls can take today’s explosion to the upside and run with it for the rest of the week.
Have a nice evening everyone.
